The Fourth of July parade in Milltown last year.Frank Conlon/For The Star-Ledger

Holiday travel is expected to be off slightly this Fourth of July holiday, according to AAA, which said fewer families are taking the entire week off and therefore have less time to drive.

But the travel dip in New Jersey won’t be as severe as the nation’s, a spokeswoman for the auto club said, with residents heading down the Shore partly in support of coastal resorts ravaged by Hurricane Sandy and partly thanks to a degree of normalcy finally returning to the state eight months after the storm.

“It’s a little bit of a post-sandy bump,” said Cathleen Lewis, a spokeswoman for AAA New Jersey. "People are making a point to get to the Shore."

Nationwide, Independence Day travel of 50 miles or more is projected to be down 0.8 percent from last year, with travel down 0.7 percent for the northeastern region, according to AAA. But in New Jersey, the dip will be about 0.4 percent, the auto club said.

In absolute terms, AAA said 1.2 million New Jerseyans would take to the road this July 4th. The weather could cause that figure could fall by Thursday, however, with rain forecast throughout the state every day this week.

Despite the dip on the road, air travel is projected to rise 1.1 percent at the region's three major airports, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which
said volume on its bridges and tunnels would be roughly flat.

In all, the Port Authority expects more than 5 million people will use its facilities between Wednesday evening and Sunday. About 2 million of them will be flying, said the agency, which urged travelers to use its airport rail links, listed on its website, www.panynj.gov.

The Port Authority did not offer an explanation for the projected bump in airline passenger volume. But Lewis, the AAA spokeswoman, said that for some people inclined to fly rather than drive, this year's four-day weekend would be a longer July 4 break than last year's Wednesday holiday.

"Only having to take one or two days to get that long weekend can be really useful," she said.